Moments

At 11:17 a.m. on my third day,

I saw you across the quad

But you disappeared before I could reach you.

At 4:55 p.m. in 1919,

One of Clemenceau’s aides got in my way

And you were gone again.

At 8:23 p.m. in 1604,

You smiled at me in the Globe

When I said, “So Shakespeare did exist.”

At 9:31 p.m. in 1935,

The Mahatma made you blush.

I have the photo to prove it.

At 10:54 a.m. in 1763,

Convincing Catherine that I was Voltaire

Was not fair payback, and you know it.

At 7:03 a.m. in 2001,

I stopped you from saving someone,

Knowing you might never speak to me again.

At 1:58 p.m. on my nineteenth day,

We convinced you it was still worth it.

My motives were selfish.

At 4:40 p.m. in 50 BCE,

I proved you’re more beautiful than Cleopatra,

Just to make you smile again.

At 12:01 a.m. in 1420,

We wrote our names on a boulder

And promised it we’d visit later.

At 6:28 p.m. on my thirty-fourth day,

You talked me out of going forward

Since for us, now matters more than someday.

At 9:42 a.m. in 1955,

I skateboarded around a clocktower.

At least you got the joke.

At 2:12 p.m. in 1770 BCE,

I shouldn’t have dared you

To offer Hammurabi a fake eye as trade.

At 3:15 p.m. in 1851,

We kissed under the Crystal Palace

And told Charlotte Brontë not to stare.

At 6:43 a.m. in 1355,

I lost sight of you for a moment

But that moment mattered more than any other.

At 5:09 p.m. someday later,

They convinced me to stop searching

But I shouldn’t have listened.

At 11:10 a.m. on some other me’s first day,

I wanted to stop you crossing the quad

Even though it doesn’t work that way.

At 12:01 a.m. in 2004,

I fulfilled the promise to our boulder

Knowing someday it won’t be there.

At 8:18 p.m. on my last day,

Breaking every law was worth it

To see you smile in the Globe again.

END